Last week’s episode of Hulu’s The Act, and adaptation of this Buzzfeed article about the life of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and the murder of her mother Dee Dee, dealt with a romance Dee Dee struck with an older man named Scott she met when he was cosplaying Wolverine at a local comic convention. In the episode Gypsy, who finds out she’s 19-years-old instead of 15, 14, or 17 ( all the different ages her mom says Gypsy is during the episode) sneaks buying a prepaid phone so she could text him. When she finds out he’s been hurt, she rushes to be by his side in the middle of the night.
Dee Dee soon wakes up and notices that Gypsy isn’t in the house and is able to track her down at Scott’s house, interrupting what is no doubt Gypsy’s first kiss. Dee Dee informs Scott that her daughter is only 14-years-old, which shakes him because Gypsy told him she was 18. Gypsy’s age in this episode is confusing and we don’t find out how old she really is until the very end. At the convention Dee Dee says Gypsy is 15, which makes Gypsy bring up that she told the doctors Gypsy was two years older than that. Right before Gypsy runs away she finds her birth certificate, which reveals that she is actually 19-years-old already – not 14, 15, 17, or even 18.
Almost anyone who’s familiar with Gypsy’s story, even in passing, knows that she conspired with a secret boyfriend to kill her mother. While Scott/Wolverine is somewhat based on a real life person, he’s not the man who murdered Dee Dee. Scott is based on an unnamed 35-year-old man referenced in the Buzzfeed article. According to Buzzfeed, in 2011 Gypsy did meet a man at a comic convention and was able to make it back to his hotel room. Dee Dee was able to quickly track them down and stormed into the room with documentation claiming that Gypsy was a minor. Unlike the brief romantic friendship that developed on the show, Gypsy and this man did not correspond for any length of time.
After this Dee Dee smashed their computer with a hammer and forbade Gypsy from accessing the Internet without supervision. For months after the incident Gypsy acted even more “subdued” than usual, according to a friend. She was able to begin attempts at fulfilling her desires for a romantic relationship the next year, however, when she met Nick Godejohn on a Christian dating website. Gypsy was able to conceal her online relationship with Godejohn for years.
The now 27-year-old Gypsy Rose Blanchard is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for her role in the murder of her mother Dee Dee Blanchard.
Amelia Cunningham is a Starcasm writer and editor @AmeliaStarcasm
